Beckett's Co-Authors - (Other Becketts) by S E Gontarski (Hardcover)

About the Book

Closely examines the original stagings of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and the point at which theatrical collaboration becomes co-authorship.

Book Synopsis

Beckett's Co-authors takes a fresh look at Samuel Beckett and the business of authorship, especially his involvement in the complicated machinery of commercial theatre. Focusing particularly on Beckett's first professionally produced play, Waiting for Godot, and its premieres in the US, UK and the Republic of Ireland, this book examines extra-authorial interventions into the creative process and how such interventions challenges the autonomy of the author and his artwork. Calling the result of these early collaborations 'co-authorship', S. E. Gontarski delves into the hybrid genre of theatre where collective aesthetics tends to override and thus supersede individual creation, using the methodology of archival archaeology to uncover previously unpublished letters and unknown archival documents relating to three national premieres. These case studies nevertheless have implications far beyond a single theatrical work, placing a spotlight on the nature of authorship and the process of realising dramatic texts in a monetised culture.

Review Quotes

Using the same elegant and warm tone, not abandoning the curiosity that charges everything he pens with passion and excitement, Stanley Gontarski is now offering a new book on Godot. Another angle! Another perspective! And yet, the same fascinating attributes of great academic and cultural writing: expertise, rigour and analytic accuracy.--Octavian Saiu, President of The International Association of Theatre Leaders